Solomon Islands and Huawei finalized telecommunications cooperation

China Enterprises and Solomon Islands signed historic telecommunications project contracts. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on the 19th, the Solomon Islands government confirmed that it has signed an agreement with China Huawei Company and China Harbor Engineering Co., Ltd. to build a 161 signal tower in the country. The government issued a statement saying that the agreement was "a historic financial partnership established with the People's Republic of China since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2019." "The two countries will work closely to ensure the successful implementation and operation of the project."

The British "Financial Times" reported that the above projects will be provided by China's import and export banks. The bank provides a total loan with a total amount of 448.9 million yuan (about 66 million US dollars) and a period of 20 years with a interest rate of 1%. Relevant projects will be officially launched next year, and 48%of the signal towers will be completed before the "Pacific Games" in the capital of the capital Henia La. The Solomon Times said on the 19th that this will "help the people, especially in rural areas, can enjoy the competition even if they do not come to the capital." The British "Guardian" mentioned that the Internet penetration rate of the Solomon Islands is less than 30%. The government has announced that it has intended to increase this number significantly, so that public service institutions, schools and clinics across the country can access the Internet.

After the news was announced, the Australian government and the media, which cooperated with China, couldn't sit still. Australia's "Sydney Pioneer" said that Australia is currently building 6 signal towers in the Solomon Islands, but this number is not comparable to 161 in Huawei. The Australian News quoted a spokesperson for the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on the 19th that the Australian government "knows" the agreement, saying that the decision -making of the country's development is "the matter of the Solomon Islands government." However, the spokesman also said that "Australia supports transparent and open infrastructure investment, meets real needs, provides long -term benefits and avoids unsustainable debt burden." Mikhail Sora, a researcher at the Australian Institute of Pacific, said that the Solomon Islands reached an agreement with China Enterprise, indicating that Honeyla's relationship with Beijing is still preferred with Canberra. Although the Australian Prime Minister Albunse was in the "Pacific Island Forum" in Fiji in July this year, he had a warm meeting with the Prime Minister Sogovre, and "hugged" symbolized the friendship between the two countries. But the relationship between the country is "not as simple as hug", "(hug) is important, but not enough."

ABC quoted a report from the KPMG accounting firm that the project would constitute a "major financial risk" to the Solomon Islands. Although "the project's risk is controllable", the plan to complete the project in the plan is "too ambitious Bothing, it seems unrealistic. " The report also claims that the feasibility report of the Solomon Islands government "greatly exaggerate the project's financial return potential", which may require the government's financial subsidies. 156 million US dollars to make up for this shortage. "

However, the conclusions obtained by the Solomon Islands government are very different from the report issued by KPM. In an interview with ABC, Dantana, executive secretary of the Solomon Islands Finance, said that "the results of the independent review show that the project will bring sufficient income to the government to repay the principal loan in full."

The Financial Times reported on the 19th that the telecommunications network has become the focus of friction in the Pacific. Australian Strategic Policy Researcher Fergus Hansen provoked that Huawei Agreement was the "slap" of the Australian Prime Minister Albunse, because Sogovare had just guaranteed that Canberra was still the country's country last month. First partner. Hansen also said that this was another blow to Australia's diplomatic reputation in the Pacific region.

According to a reporter from the Global Times, since the Huawei and Solomon Islands have reached a submarine optical cable cooperation project in 2017, Australia has been the role of "stumbling block" in the China Telecom cooperation. The Australian government directly intervened in 2018. From Huawei, it took the submarine optical cable project from Sydney to Honiala to its own hands. It also prohibited Huawei from participating in the construction of 5G networks in Australia under the excuse of "national security". Last month, Australia Telstra Telecom spent $ 1.3 billion to acquire Digicel Pacific operating in the Pacific Island country to "prevent the bidding of China Telecom."

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the Solomon Islands earlier said that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the Solomon Islands, pragmatic cooperation between the two countries has continued to deepen, bringing real benefits to the people of the two countries. The two sides have strong economic complementarity and great potential for cooperation. China welcomes the Solomon Islands to take the China Economic Development Express and strengthen cooperation in the fields of economic and trade. ▲

Daqiao, a special reporter in Australia, Australia, Special Correspondent Zhen Xiang

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